24 Live Another Day Series Blog: 21.00-22.00

The closing episodes of 24: Live Another Day have proved that this is not a show that gets caught up in unnecessary storylines and twists. In a sense, the writers have played the long game as it was not until the latter half of the season until the relevance of Kate’s husband being a traitor or the threat of the Russians became clear as the plots intertwined.

The penultimate episode of Live Another Day, considerably dropped in pace compared to the explosive events of the previous instalment, however, significant plot developments were made as there was a lot of ground to cover before the season finale.

(source: www.craveonline.com)

Once Jack and Kate reach the HQ of Open Cell, they find the bodies of many of the hackers, including Adrian Cross. Jack soon discovers the phone left by Chloe before she kidnapped by Cheng, and on it, he finds a recording of Cheng’s voice – undisputed evidence that he is alive, contrary to what Jack thought. President Heller quickly believes the true about Cheng and that he was working with Russian spies, with it quickly becoming obvious that they were working on trying to start a war between America and China. The penny finally dropped when Jack pulled a gun on Mark Boudreau once he learnt that Mark was responsible for leaking Jack’s location to the Russians stating that the Russians had the most to gain from a war between the U.S. and China and that Mark had brought that reality closer by working with Russian spies.

Credit to Tate Donovan as Mark’s reaction to all of the pieces slotting into place mirrored that of the audience as everything that had happened in the past eleven episodes came together.

Instead of Mark being arrested for treason as the President suggested, Jack has a better idea – to use Boudreau as bait in order to get closer to Stolnavich. Things, however, do not go to plan on this mission. Mark manages to make the Russian believe that he is defecting, but then Jack and Kate burst into the compound all guns blazing.  Mark and Stolnavich end up in a desperate fight over a gun and the Russian is shot. Despite Bauer’s best efforts to keep him alive long enough to extract information about the Chinese, he dies and the situation with Cheng looks increasingly bleak.

(source: www.craveonline.com)

Live Another Day has been somewhat sparse on scenes involving both Jack and Audrey considering he is out in the field and she is in the U.S. embassy, their few interactions, however, have been standout moments in the season. The split-screen phone call between Jack and Audrey in this episode was another shining moment with the split-screen being a fine framing device with the extreme close-ups showcasing Sutherland and Raver’s talents perfectly. The history between the pair and the way in which the characters are haunted by being tortured by the Chinese was excellently written and performed.

Audrey then had the chance to save the day using her Chinese contact to ease tensions between nations. Cheng, alas, then scuppered such plans. Soon into the women’s conversation, the contact and Audrey’s Secret Service escorts are taken out by a sniper. Audrey then receives a phone call from Cheng telling her to stay put, she is now his hostage. Coming right at the closing moments of the hour, the development was a significant plot twist despite being inevitable going into the final episode. With minimal focus placed on Chloe’s hostage situation, and the character’s presence being decidedly lessened in Live Another Day, her fate also seems bleak in episode 12.

With the time-jump being left to episode 12 – meaning that it will cover twelve hours – how it is managed with all of the events of the episode where exactly it takes Jack Bauer will prove interesting. 24: Live Another Day is winding down, but with the tension and drama remaining high, the teamwork between Jack and Kate continuing, the threat from Cheng worse than ever before and diplomatic relations being strained, the finale looks to be momentous. With only one hour left, the clock is ticking…